On Tue, 21 Feb 1995, Norm Aleks wrote: (in part)
 
> Hmm, well, if your program doesn't do this  then it's missing its *biggest*
> opportunity to help a   listowner.  ADD, DEL,  and  SET aren't the  problem
> commands, it's changing the list header that new listowners are intimidated
> by.   It sounds  as if you   think the list  header  is something only  the
> postmaster (who has access  to the server hardware  itself) would deal with
> ...    it's not.  The list  header  is what list  owners  use to manage all
> aspects of their list's behavior, and it's a  normal text file, retrievable
> and puttable as any other LISTSERV file would  be.  Your program could be a
 
This seems to be a big hurdle for newbie listwoners, making changes to the
header, filelist, etc.  It is really no big deal, it's as close to being
foolproof as it can be.  If you screw things up in a major way LISTSERV
probably won't accept it, you'll get an error message.  If, by some fluke,
you contrive a major error the program doesn't catch you have the old
header, which is automatically saved as a safeguard for such situations
(I always keep a copy of the old header until I'm sure everythig is well
as I'm a "I'll do it myself" type person).  If your error is minor, say
you put in a space after a comma in a keyword line, it probably won't
destroy your list, you'll just have part of a keyword line ignored,
which you'll know as the list isn't doing what you wanted.  So get the
header again and look for the error, should be easy to spot if you
really look at it.  Changing the header is easy to do with most editors
and the one your email program uses will probably suffice.
(Anyone please point out any faux pas above).
 
As to an after market program for listowners to do various tasks I don't
see the point.  Listowners can already do the things mentioned with far
less hassle than having to go into some stupid GUI system (yeah, you
propably guessed it, I don't see the point of GUIs and I do not run
Windows (my hard drive upgrade had that stuff preloaded, I dumped it)).
 
Finally, another of my "philosophical" questions.  If all the "listowner"
knows is "hit key x to do y" how is the listowner going to be able to
answer the questions of subscribers when they have problems?  If
listowners are just buttonpushers, with no ability to investigate,
evaluate, judge etc., who have no greater knowledge than Whosit
Subscriber, nor a willingness to learn, which most subscribers do not
have, what is the point of having listowners?  How are listowners who know
only "push this button to do this" any better than a totally automatted
system (those who hate "autodelete" take note)?
 
I said "finally" but I lied.  A program to forge addresses is a *BAD* idea,
technically, morally, ethically, etc.
 
Douglas
       Douglas Winship   Hays County, Texas  [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner
                              MEDLAB-L